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Session 4
Gentle Tales of Gentle Breeze, Chapter 2 Day of adventures have made me weary, for I find my memory a bit dull and I myself struggling to bring my usual eloquence to the page. I find myself thinking of the days wasted collecting at the monastery, the dust caking my fur as I watched the sun pass from the library’s sole window. I wonder what brought about such a melancholy feeling, perhaps fatigue from my adventure, allergies, or some other third thing. But I digress, let us continue with the tales of Gentle Breeze. We set out at dusk, once again my travels are accompanied by Durin the Dwarf. He’s rather sturdy for a musician, though perhaps that’s part of his charm. Also with the party were Thrall the half-orc Druid , and Elywick the Dwarf Warlock. Both stern in demeanor, I fail remember much of our interactions. We set out north, rumors spoke of a group of adventurers who traveled north never to return. Questions of their fate lingered amongst the townsfolk, it was worth at least a quick search. As we weave through the forest, a pair orcs charge us. We make short work of them and continue. Nearing the end of forest, we struggle the find the trail. As we consider returning to town we are attacked by a orb of light. I’m told it is called a will o’ wisp. A dreadful anomaly, most strikes bared little results. How does one strike light? Normally, I dive into a sweeping tangent about the duality of darkness and light and how such an encounter mirrors my journey as a monk, however, I don’t feel like it right now. Upon finally besting the spirit, we find the trail and with it the fallen adventurers. A sorry sight, we pay our quick respects then immediately start searching their bodies. I said quick. While the others find little, my eyes catch the bag filled with potions and gems. Quite the bountiful find, though I see greed in the eyes of party as I’m expected to share the gems for the value. Were it gold, I’d care little as I see little need for trivial possessions, but these were beautiful gems. The wonder that sparks as light dances through their shapes. Such a waste to be traded for gold. I give each a small portion as to not stir up trouble. Pity. With treasure in hand we attempt to return to Firkin’s Landing, but our travels are interrupted by rovering pair of satyrs. Godless chaotic creatures they care nothing of themselves or those around them. Laughing as we beat them bloody. Their giggles still haunt me. Seriously, fuck satyrs. We rest at town then return back north. We find ourselves at the Broken Strand, a rocky beach in the north. Exploring the shore we find an abandoned shipwreck. In its bows contain some treasure, but in the captain’s chamber waited a sahuagin priestess. She stuns me with a spell early in the battle and am of little use for the fight. A shame I will carry forward. After a hard fought battle, we find ourselves too tired to risk venturing further into this ship. We make a hasty return home, though at the cost of my gems. Curious what power such stones hold over the civilized world. It may be worth reconsider my teachings if I am to survive the next ordeals. Thrall I arrived with a few fellow travelers to the tavern. With me was Gentle a Tabaxi Monk, Durin a dwarven bard, and Elywick, a dwarven warlock. We heard rumors of an adventuring party going missing in the north, so we decided to investigate. To the north we found the odd circle of trees missing that we saw on the tavern map. Shortly after, we found a trail and followed it north. Shortly after we got ambushed by orcs. With a flurry of blows by Gentle, they perish pretty much immediately. We try to continue north but once again get surprised by a willow wisp. After a very tough fight, we finally take it down. It turns out it is resistant to almost everything, and cannot be hit very easily. We take a short rest and continue to follow the trail. We found the sad dead adventuring party. Gentle ruffled through the stufff and found some potions and valuable gems which he proceeded to share some with the party. After this, we decide to head back as we are all pretty spent. Of course it won't be easy. On the way back Satyrs attack us before we can rest again. All i remember is a tough fight and Gentle throwing more furies of blows, Durin whispering in their ears, and Elywick throwing magic. I wasn't of much use as I haven't gained much experience yet. Shortly after we make it to town, and bribe the guards to get inside. After resting up, we decide to get back out for one more short adventure. Making it back to where we found the dead party, we continued due north and found a large wrecked ship. After some investigation we find a secret hold and find a potion in it. We also then noticed there is a possible way to climb up into the deck, but fail to do so. After more investigation we find another hold and get ambushed by a merlock type priestess. It serves as a very difficult challenge with powerful magic. We survive, find a bit more loot, then decide to head back as it was getting late already. This ends my travel log. I feel like there may be more in the ship, but that will be for another time. Durin (Durin's Journal Entries for Session 4) Day 0 - Firkin’s Landing A few days pass as I recovered from my previous journey. Nothing much to note as I spent the days exploring about Firkin’s Landing. Little is of interest in this town. There are merchants selling wares to suit all needs, inns, and watering holes as one would expect in all towns. The interesting tales are from the wilds outside the gates. As adventures come in and out of the inn, their tales offer an escape from the otherwise drab setting inside the walls of town. One such party returned during the evening, weariness evident on their faces, as they entered the inn. From their account, they were exploring the broken strand of rocks north of town when they encountered a boat marooned in the rocks. It appears this was a trap, and their party was attacked. During ensuing battle, one such party member is slain, but the remaining members are able to fend off the remaining pirates. They returned to town to regroup and rest. I was hoping this would be the end of their tale, but the next morning, the group of three had ventured back into the wilds; apparently they had unfinished business to attend. It has been some time since these adventures left the apparent safety of town and they have not returned. I was approached by Ellywick, a gnome sorcerer, Thrall, a half orc druid, and my dear friend Gentle proposing a search for this group of now missing adventurers. They knew the party had ventured north and our party would set forth, tracking across them in the wilds. I figure Gentle is an able tracker, as well as Thrall with his natural prowess, so I agreed. I do not know what motivates my comrades, but I hope that by finding these adventurers, they will offer a reward for our troubles. Still in need of better equipment, and with some coin in my pockets, I can search for better work and seek out more opportunities. In the morning we set off to the north. Day 1 - North Hearthwood Forest. A long day in the wilds today. I write this from the safety of the inn, but rest assured, our day was notably more remarkable then the entire adventure I had previously. Gentle and I laughed early on as we strolled north out of the gate. In our last adventure we had made it two days along the river barely even seeing a thing. I did wonder how we were ever going to find any trace of these poor lost souls. Two hours into our journey north we walked into a crop of cleared forest. Something had cleared these trees. It looked to be accomplished by some talented creature. Not natural by our reckonings. We investigated the area, but couldn’t discern the nature of the clearing. I was able to pick of the trail of an adventuring crew. The footprints seemed to match that of the lost party. Perhaps there would be hope after all. We began tracking the party to the north. About three hours after we picked up the trail, we run across two Orcs carrying greataxes. They do not seem all that interested in our presence and immediately charge our party. Unfortunately for them, Gentle was able to get the upper hand quickly dispelling one of the foes. I cast a dissonant whisper spell on the remaining Orc, telling him that he is next and his end is near. He quickly turns and begins making haste but is caught and dealt with quickly. I pick up one of the greataxes. I may not be proficient with this tool, but I do know that it will fetch a price in town. While most of us managed the encounter unscathed, we decided to take a short rest to recover. Unfortunately, our rest was interrupted. As we were relaxing against a few trees, a glowing orb appeared in front of us. We had really no idea what to make of this apparition, until it began pulsing with what appeared to be electrical energy. We quickly set off into battle, but this foe proved to be much more powerful than the two orcs we had fought earlier. Lightning damage had no effect, and my thunderwave seemed to pack less of a punch than it should. The orb took a special interest in me right away, I was able to deal a little damage, but also noticing my club was not the most effective at bashing through a ball of light. I focused some energy and managed to irritate it with some psychic insults, at which point I heard a ghostly voice in my head that said “I was like you once.” It then became evident we were dealing with a Will-o’-Wisp. Almost at this moment, it passed into the trunk of the tree behind me and disappeared. I took the opportunity to get away, and began running with the rest of my party. We were not fast enough, as the wisp materialized in front of me. A jolt of lightning sent me to the ground cold. What must’ve been only a few seconds later, soothing words bring life back into me. I see Gentle doing battle with the creature as I send some inspiration his way. A few insults and other attacks later, and our foe is finally vanquished. The battle took a toll on our party and in the chaos, we lost the trail we were tracking. It became evident that our team did not have the stamina to continue for the day, so we turned around to venture back to town. The adventure does not end there, as we run into a band of badgers on our journey home. We were able to quickly dispel the woodland creatures. Targeting one of the smaller ones, I caused it to collapse under a torment of psychic thoughts too difficult for it to handle. The rest met similar fates. Weary as we were, we once again decide to take a short rest before continuing back to town. Fate would not allow it today, as our rest was disturbed by two satyrs. What drives these fey creatures in their mockeries is beyond me, but their taste for chaos is ruthless. Luckily, our team was able to put forth a valiant effort and fight off these creatures. I do believe that Gentle picked up one of their flutes at the end of the skirmish, but nothing else notable was found on them. We proceed onward till we reach the gates. Being past dusk when we arrive, we are forced to bribe the guards to let us in. All that hard work clearing beasts from outside their precious walls, and we still have to pay for our passage. Filthy policy if you ask me. Being as it was not too late, I quickly rush to the arms dealer. It seems I made it in the nick of time. I was able to sell that greataxe for a shiny new battleaxe. It’s about damn time this dwarf had a proper weapon! I met the guys back at the inn. We decided to try again tomorrow, maybe we would have better luck. At this point, I just want to go slash a few things. Day 2 - The Broken Strand I awake feeling significantly better. Our party sets forth and quickly make it to the site of yesterday’s battle with the wisp. We pick up the trail almost immediately, and follow it over a hilltop. After a brief walk, we round a corner and see three bodies matching the descriptions we were given. They appeared to meet an unfortunate end, and had become a source of food for some small scavengers. The site was most gruesome, but a humbling reminder of dangers that these lands contain. We checked the bodies, finding mostly adventuring wares. Gentle discovered a bag of gems and handed a few of them to us. I saw that he kept most of them for himself, but it doesn’t seem like the others in the party took notice. I don’t know why he wanted all those gems. He has no desire for riches or worldly possessions. I hope to find out someday. There were also a few bottles that were capped in a strange manner as well as some restore health potions. We take leave of the area and venture onto the broken strand. The beach is covered in fairly large boulders, but can be easily passed. To the north, we could see nothing but beach with Hearthwood Forest to its west. Gentle tried to get a better vantage point from a tall tree in the area, but could not distinguish much else. We follow the beach for what must be 6 hours until we notice that the shoreline begins to turn to the east. Off in the distance, we could see the trees meeting the water again, but just before that at the terminus of the beach was a shape that looked different. As we approached, the shape took form. A 150ft long ship, crashed along the rocks. Two upright masts with bits of sails creaking and clanking in the wind. A large hole in her hull was visible faced outward into the lightly lapping waves. This ship had certainly been there quite some time. Not knowing what to expect, our party quietly approached the ship. We ventured around the bow and made our way into the water. Rounding the south side of the ship, we made our way to the large opening. This storage room showed its age: signs of water damage at higher tides along with barnacles growing here and there. Storage crates long since looted were strewn about, likely moving around during the changing tides. There was however recent activity; blood stained walls and boxes that had yet to be fully washed away suggested an encounter of some kind had taken place here not but a few days ago. Our group slowly entered the room and noticed a tattered net hanging below an opening. A path to the deck, no doubt. Gentle and Thrall tried to climb up to the deck, but only managed to tear down the netting. We looked around the room, and I noticed a hollow sound from one of the walls. I took out my axe, smashing an opening into another room. We peer inside and notice what appears to be a captain’s quarters. There’s a desk and some other living arrangements inside. Casting detect magic in the area, I notice a slight illusion on one of the drawers of the desk. Ellywick opens the drawer with mage hand and reveals a journal. Many of the pages were not legible, but two pages revealed the final entries from the ship’s captain. It appears the ship ran aground a long time ago and was subsequently surrounded and attacked by a group of merfolk. Unfortunately, we found no such evidence of the final fate of the ship’s crew. Ellywick did notice some hinges on the wall, and soon we were looking down another hallway complete with a few bunks and sleeping quarters, but almost immediately we see a creature in the shadows. A fierce-looking, fish like humanoid attacks our group. This might have been one of the creatures responsible for attacking this ship’s crew. No ordinary humanoid, this creature was able to cast a number of spells that made the fight a challenge. For a number of seconds, it conjured a magical weapon that could move freely and attack our party. The close quarters combat within the walls of the ship also made the encounter challenging as we moved amongst the beds and dressers trying to get an angle. Eventually, we were able to take down our foe and find a number of gems on its person. It was also holding a strong mace which Thrall grabbed. After some investigation we were able to determine the creature to be a Sahuagin with powerful magical abilities. The party decided that it had explored enough, and with darkness falling fast, made haste to return to Firkin’s Landing.